Christmas Break

Christmas Break is over as of tomorrow morning at 5:30am.  I'm more depressed than usual- I just love these kids SO much, and could just hang out with them all day, every day.  OK- maybe not ALL day, EVERY day- but that's what nap time is for!  Here is a sweet video I shot the other day:

I just have to make it about 6 weeks, and then Casey's company is sending us on an all-expense paid vacay to Mexico (even our day trips and spa days and golf are covered, yay!)- since he's so kick a$$.  I can do that!  (Then Spring Break.  Then Good Friday.  Then Finals.  Then SUMMER!)

Santa Came!

We must have been good boys and girls this year- because Santa Clause came and left us some AWESOME gifts!  At first, we saw presents in their usual spot (since we don't have a mantle, Santa prefers the bar area)- and those were awesome enough!  And, then....

Santa ate the snack we left him, and even left Ada a NOTE!

This caught Ada's eye from the living room!!!!!  It's a HUGE playhouse!  It was raining Christmas, so Santa put it together indoors, and we've been playing with it in this spot ever since.  It. Is. AWESOME. A school room.  A drive-thru window.  A gas station with a gas pump.  A basketball goal (in the back). A soccer net. A grocery store.  This thing has it ALL.  We have had so much fun with it that we are considering keeping it inside until the weather is consistently nicer before moving it outside (yes, it'll be easy to disassemble and take to the backyard!).  Both kids are obsessed.

Christmas 2011

We had an amazing Christmas this year- we are so blessed with so many wonderful family members  that we love so very much- and they even love us in return!  I will post a separate post about our little Dowell Christmas, but these are photos (and hopefully a few videos, if they upload!) from our Christmases with The Dowell Fam, The Purdy (& Anderson) Gang, and The Mobley Clan.  They kind of go in reverse order than the actual events.

I didn't get any pictures from my mom's house because I had a near-migraine headache, and operating a camera might have pushed me over the edge.  I also didn't get any from MorMor's house, so I pirated all of hers off of Facebook!!! :)  I managed to get a few with Grams and Papa.  

Uncle Christian is fighting some esophagus issues (stupidest organ of the body), so he wasn't able to make Christmas this year.  :(  But, we still received his lottery tickets, and I *almost* won $500!!  

This "Elephant Sweater" was actually hand- knitted by MorMor for our family Christmas in 1987!!!  That means I had just turned 5- I *think* this is my cousin Ricky's sweater, instead of mine (he'd have been 2).  I need to scrape up some pictures from that Christmas- the ENTIRE family wore one.  And I mean EVERYONE!

Dax in his annual "money hat!"  MorMor hand knitted everyone's.

This is when I realized after shouting "I WON $500!!", I had, in fact, NOT won $500.  Bahahahahahaa!  

Daxy

Me and the babes

Ada's money hat

The entire Mobley clan!
Back (left to right): Donny, Colleen, Andrew, Rick, Mary, Steve, James
Front Row: Ricky, Ada, Casey, MorMor, Alicia, Dax, Eric, Audrey, Andi
Not pictured in the center: Christian.  :(  Or Stacy. 

Murm got his own tree and lights for his house!

Uncle Luis!

With Grandpa and his decorated gift box wrapped box.

Murphy's lights at night.

Daddy and Daxy

And these videos are mostly from Grams and Papa's night- I'm sorry everyone else for being lazy!  I was just enjoying your company too much to worry about filming! :)

Dax- 9 months

UPDATED: I added a video at the bottom! :)

Well, he's 9 months, and my heart bursts at the seem a little more each day for this little guy!  He has got quite the personality we are learning.  He WILL get your attention with grunts and squeals if it's what he wants... or he will elude your watchful eye as he inspects and tastes and explores everything in his path if that is his desire.  He's completely taken with sister Ada (that sounds like a nun!)- and finds her utterly captivating, hilarious, interesting, and a tad scary all in one.  Right up his alley.

He's closer to walking, but won't be there anytime soon (knock on wood).  He's OBSESSED with walking along with his lawnmower walker- and has begun to realize that turning it is in fact in his power.  So he's independently working on that one (thus spending extended periods of time stuck facing corners while he inches it back around).  I have a video of him actually realizing his bipedal-ism for the first time on this walker- I will post it eventually.  Now he can walk across the house on it (with a few interrupted rests on his knees!)

He has an internal honing device for anything electronic- phones, remotes, computers, cords.  He. Will. Have. Them. (in his mouth!)

He's still loving bathtime- especially if sister's in the tub, too. Of which I also have videos and need to post.  ~Crap~

He will wave hello and good-bye (when he feels like it!)- and invented his own clap.

He has become more demanding with his "mama"s and I love every syllable of them.  He's got a pseudo-sign for "more" and "all done" that I understand, but no other human being would.  However- last night he SAID "ah-duh" TWICE in a  row for "all done!"  Could've been a coincidence, since I squealed with delight when he did it the first time (in conjunction with the sign, so I had SOME basis for excitement!)...and he has been known to love a reaction out of me.

Just today he began playing an adorable version of peek-a-boo with his Sweetish Baby taggie blanket.  If he initiates the game, he just thrusts the blankie up and down too fast to even say "peek-a-boo" ... but if you say "GO HIDE, DAX!" he'll hold the blankie over his face for a few seconds and then THRUST it down and smile at you (me), waiting for the exaggerated "PEEK-A-BOOOOOO!" (Those of you that watch Up All Night- have y'all seen the Children's Gym episode?  Bahaha!)

He'll eat just about anything- I'm almost at the point where I'd feel comfortable just feeding him small pieces of our dinner (and do on occasion offer small bites)- except I'm so psycho about their first year's nutrition I him to maintain the ridiculous amounts of fruits and vegetables he is currently consuming, so I will continue steaming and pureeing organic foods for his pure little body.  Oh, and I also forgot to mention my insane phobia of food allergies.  Particularly egg and nut- and adult food sources are too untrustworthy to risk giving him doses of little scary proteins!

I think that's the bulk of the month's updates.  Yes, I'm posting this on Christmas Day (night).  Yes, I'm on Christmas break.  Yes, Grams and Papa were here for 2.5 weeks. Yes, we re-did the office. But before any of those posts, it's time for the Montster Photoshoot-->

My heart is putty in your hands, little boy!

Squawking- per usual!

UPDATED: Here is the peek-a-boo video I promised!  :)

Santa: 4th Time's A Charm!

Well, the first three attempts at a small chat with Santa were a disaster not picture perfect.  (For a visual reminder, read THIS post!)

But THIS year was THE year!!!  Ada was enamored.  Her mind went totally blank when Ol' Saint Nick asked her what she'd like for Christmas- she forgot to ask him for barbies, kitchen "food" toys, a car, and princess dolls.  All that she could manage out of her mouth was a meek "presents."  

When he asked her if she'd been a good little girl, her large almond-shaped eyes became more like walnuts.  Maybe even brazil nuts.  And she nodded ever-so-slightly.

When he lifted her up to place her on his lap for the obligatory photo-op, her body went limp with disbelief.  He plopped her on his knee, and then plopped Dax on his other knee.  (Dax was also enamored- but more with the beard than anything.  This was one of the few pictures that Dax was looking in the vicinity of the camera- most of the time he was turned completely around staring at the white fuzz.)  

Ada was deep in thought.  Her mind was not in this world- she was pondering the North Pole.  Reindeer.  Elves.  Presents.  Presents.  Presents.  And cookies.  Finally, she came to.  To us saying "Ada!  Smile!  Smile for the camera, honey!"  And this is what she squeezed out before slipping back into her Christmas fantasy:

I would deem 2012 the year of the SANTA SUCCESS!!  I'm obsessed with this picture, and it may not be stashed away with the rest of the holiday decor come January 1st- I just don't think I'll be able to part with it for an entire year!

If you give a Preggo some Clorox...

... she's going to clean the air vents.
Then she's going to need to wash the baseboards, since a little dust fell from the vents.
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Which is when she'll realize how dirty the couches are, so she'll purchase a dust-buster and put it to use.

When she's storing the dust-buster in the laundry room, she'll decide to go ahead and clean the washer and dryer.

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While she's at it, she'll hire a crew to steam clean every room in the house with the most environmentally friendly treatment possible.

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And, a week later- just when she thought every nook and cranny of the house was perfectly suitable for a newborn to come home to- she got out the vacuum cleaner for some maintenance cleaning, and realized how dirty that was....

And finally- her husband caught the nesting bug:

And here is that nesting-freak Preggo with her favorite little girl enjoying a Cinnabun while at the mall to make room for the steam cleaners! :)

Dax The Giraffe

This giraffe that Ada is holding is Dax. We really think she believes that this. Is. Dax. It was just a stuffed animal I'd bought for the real Dax's room- and when Ada helped me put together "Dax's room", she assumed Dax was the giraffe. So now this is her beloved lovey. He goes everywhere we go. She kisses him and leaves him in the car for the school day. The bedroom is for him. The clothes are for him. He is her brother. Awesome- I think she's in for a shock in a few weeks! I love her so much!

Awww, Valentine's Day!

It has been a crappy few days. A crappy few weeks, overall, really- which is rare for me! But I think things are looking up- and it started last night when Casey got home from work on Valentine's Day! He got Ada and I chocolate covered strawberries, which we gobbled up (and even shared a little with him!). Ada also had her Valentine's Day party at school, and she's been reading and re-reading her Valentine's cards that she received from her friends. It's adorable- she even takes them all to bed! Her favorite is the Sesame Street one from her teacher Miss Jackie.
Ada doing some evening Valentine reading:

This is not the greatest picture (well, no pictures are the greatest picture of my wild 2 year old these days!)- but I just thought it looked SO much like me when I was that age that I had to post it! Could it be... that my daughter might end up resembling me a LITTLE!? :) It's something in her eyes....

Here's to better days- I think my rainstorm is over! (Seriously, nothing extremely terrible happened, but you know how it goes... one little thing after another, and BAM- you're at your wits end!)

33 Weeks and a Broken Finger

I slammed my finger in the car door. Bad. Like, it closed so completely that the interior light went off. And it hurt like HELL. I tried to pretend it was fine, mostly because I'm terrified of going to the doctor if I think there is a chance that I might be poked, prodded, or administered any type of shot- which I was afraid of because my fingernail has turned completely black and is swollen. But I decided to go on in since I'm pregnant and my health is ultimately Dax's health for 6.5 more weeks.... When they took my blood pressure, it was almost 150/90 because I was SO nervous about what they were going to do to me. You'd think they'd threatened to amputate my finger. And, alas- the verdict is in, sort of.

Probably broken, but the break is so high up (called a "Tuft" fracture) that there's no need for any type of surgery- and the risks of the x-ray (since I'm preggo) don't outweight the benefits, so we won't know for sure. And my fingernail (the more painful part, believe it or not) didn't need to be poked, prodded, or shot at- so I survived! I was prescribed a THIRD round of antibiotics this pregnancy to prevent any infection- if it were infected and my bone is fractured, it could lead to a bone infection. Which would be bad, and require poking and prodding. (Shudder)
Right after the finger slamming:
A day later. The flash on my camera makes my nail look lighter- it's literally purple halfway up my nail- it's really attractive.

And, here was me yesterday, at 33 weeks, BEFORE I broke my finger! Poor Dax, he's been through so much with me these past few weeks! I hate taking so many meds that are going straight to the little man.

MiMi!

Oh, MiMi... we love you! :)

I'm on the mend! Ada's now sniffling and coughing, so I took the day off today (it's the only "convenient" day this week for me to miss work), brought her in to Dr. Gonzalez (even though I knew she wasn't sick yet), and we now have a Rx waiting to be called in should we need it! (That's one of the many reasons we love him.) For the last year or so, she's been pretty much petrified at the doctor's office... and she did SUCH a great job today. She stood on the big girl scale, let the Nurse Nelly and Dr. G take all of her vitals, poke, and prod- she even pulled down her pants and let Dr. G check out a wierd rash on her hiney. :) Here are some pictures of the big girl:

We had a really nice "girl's day out" afterwards at Target (we love Target!) and the Chick-Fil-A playground (just like old times!)- because I'm not sure when the next one we'll get will be! (Sniff sniff) While she napped I nested like a psycho preggo. I dust-bustered the couches. I washed and dried and re-assembled lots of old baby toys/playmats/boppy pillows/chairs/etc. I recently dusted all of the baseboards and air vents. All that's left of my list is to wash Dax's NEW clothes and blankies and to get the carpets steam cleaned (which will happen this weekend). He'll be here before we know it- I'm almost 33 weeks! Yowzers.... The house is ready, but am I?????

sick

Ugh, I'm really sick. It started off as just a cold, but pretty much any place in my body that was housing an inkling of congestion is now infected, inflamed, and miserable! I should have gone to the doctor yesterday, but the icy road conditions kept me in- along with the rest of Houston- so then I waited at the Walgreens Take Care Clinic for THREE HOURS today before being seen- along with the rest of Houston! I have Bronchitis- per the Doctor, it almost sounded like Pneumonia in there, but the lack of a high fever kept it at Bronchitis (thank GOD!), a sinus infection in every possible cavity in my face (which I totally believe), and a random ear infection to boot. The ear infection surprised me- I guess when the rest of your face feels like an accupuncture-gone-wrong session, the ear doesn't hurt as much! The killer part is I never ran over a 100 fever- which is a total blessing, because that can be seriously dangerous for Dax... but it's also what kept me from taking my butt into the Doctor on Monday. (I always get paranoid about being a hypochondriac... partly because I am a hypochondriac!) The worst part: this a-hole lady who sat RIGHT beside me and moaned, groaned and coughed in MY direction the entire time. I wanted to ask her if she noticed I was 32 weeks pregnant, and if she could direct her disgustingness to someone else less immuno-compromised.

Since I'd gotten to the clinic right at opening, we thought the wait wouldn't be bad... so Casey and Ada had tagged along so we could run some errands afterwards. They decided to go piddle around Katy while I waited... and had a grand old time! Here are some pictures and cute Ada quotes from their morning:

At the pet store... "I want one!"
"Just like Nemo!"

They went to Lowes, where Ada claimed "I love carpets!"

Then they went to dine and play at Chick-Fil-A until I was done! When told it was time to go, Ada replied "No, not yet. I'll keep playing!"

Ada's High School Experience

It's 6:20 in the morning- we are 10 minutes from Ada's school where we will dress in the parking lot, then happily go in to eat breakfast with friends. My phone rings and Caitlin Atlee informs me that Kids-R-Kids is CLOSED because their pipes burst in the sub-20 degree temperatures last night! It's too late to call in for a sub, too late to turn around and take her home, too late for Casey to cancel his meetings, too late for ANYTHING except to bring Ada to school with me....
And she had a BLAST! She participated in 1st period Chemistry's Limiting Reagent lab (they made S'Mores!) and helped me work a few example problems on the board, then watched Dora the Explorer projected on the Smart board with Anatomy during 2nd period (during which they were supposed to work on their Eye Packet... but I'm pretty sure they all just watched Dora, too!). She had such a fabulous time, in fact, that she CRIED when first period left!

Then, MorMor the Saint met me at home during my conference and snuggled with Ada the rest of the day!

Daycare is supposed to be back open tomorrow, but we'll see! Ada might be teaching Percent Yield, too....

Extra hour...

Oops! I added an entire hour to Casey's time in my last post. He ran in 1 hour 58 minutes... not 2:58!! :) I think he'd appreciate me clarifying that... And thank you, Tiffany- I'm sure he appreciates you catching that, too!!

Aramco Houston Half Marathon

Casey has been training for the Aramco Houston Half Marathon for several months now- and successfully completed it under his goal time this morning!!!!! He finished in 2:58- and he ran between 8:30-8:55 minute miles the entire 13.1 miles. Good job, Babe!! We're so proud of you! Here are some pictures of the adventure (on which Ada and I tagged along, of course!):

Leaving the house at 5am to get Casey through traffic and to the starting line by 6:15-
After dropping off Daddy, Ada wishing all of the runners walking by good luck-

A projected 20,000 racers and 200,000 spectators! I believe it!

Once we got parked, Ada and I headed to the Hilton for a leisurely breakfast of chocolate milk and croissants while Casey ran the first hour in the rain (she refused to pose for any pictures this morning! This was as good as I got)-

Ada got ansty, put herself in her stroller (still wouldn't pose for a picture), and wanted to go outside to cheer on the racers-

We stood outside for an hour cheering on random people. "GO RACERS! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" -Ada

Getting prepared to see Daddy cross the finish line. "Go Daddy!!! Run FAST!"

Clapping-

And, OF COURSE, right at 2 hours 58 minutes, we were in the middle of a minor issue and MISSED CASEY! I was SO sad!!! We waited at the finish line for another 20 minutes (with me freaking out something had happened to him) until he called me from the reunion area. Bummer!

But we reunited in the George R. Brown, Casey had an Ice Cream cup for Ada, and let her wear his metal... so all was well! :)

Family picture. Love these guys so much!